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DEAN MCNULTY, QMI Agency

For the first time in a very long time the first questions from the media to Dale Earnhardt Jr. this week at Kansas Speedway were not about his elongated losing streak.

Oh, it is still at more than three seasons and counting, but Earnhardt's performances this season have been noticeably better.

In fact Earnhardt's current position -- tied for second -- in the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship standings after seven races has many observers convinced with a little luck he could win it all this season.

The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team has shown remarkable consistency and Earnhardt is the first to admit he was often the author of his own misfortunes over the past several seasons.

He said on Friday that for the first time he is thinking big picture in terms of championship points instead of allowing frustrations to ruin many good finishes for him and the team.

"Yeah, I think that one of my weaknesses in the past has been to not realize what I need to do that exact day," he said. "I would be in races and something would happen or I would be faced with some adversity and instead of staying calm and trying to maximize what I can do that very day and get every point I can get that very day, there were times when I would make mistakes and cost myself even more trouble and lose even more points."

Earnhardt said it is something he and crew chief Steve Letarte started to work on last season.

"What I did last year and what I'm trying to do this year is when we have a run where the car is just really not working or if we have a mistake on pit road or anything for that matter, anything that sets us back is to try to remain calm and think about what I can do to get the most points that day instead of thinking too far out or thinking too near sighted about the situation and ruining the day and making things even worse for ourselves," he said.

"I started thinking that way when they changed the points system because I thought this new points system was really going to reward consistency more and really punish poor finishes moreso than the old system. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I still feel like it does."

Earnhardt sighted last week's race at Texas as an example.

"Last week wasn't the greatest week and I think five years ago or four years ago I would have taken that car and probably gotten mad and made a mistake or done something wrong and finished 20th or worse," he said. We ended up staying calm and maximizing the night and finishing 10th."

The STP 400 from Kansas Speedway will be shown live on TSN2 and FOX starting at 1 p.m. ET.

TEAM FEARS FOR SAFETY IN BAHRAIN

Fears of civil unrest in the desert kingdom of Bahrain forced the Formula One Force India team to cancel its second practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.

The team's pair of drivers -- Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg along with reserve driver Jules Bianchi -- pulled out of the session after team bosses stated safety of the team was the prime motivation for the move.

"We are looking at it from the point of view of ensuring the well being of everybody and the comfort of everybody is in place," the team's chief engineer Jakob Andreasen said.

"We have had issues as you all know with things, and we have to make sure that the crew are comfortable in the environment and that is what we are working on."

Earlier in the week a crew member was caught up in some anti-government protests near the Sakhir circuit.

Bahrain has been shaken by protests since last year -- when the race was cancelled -- in the so-called "Arab spring."

It was feared that with a late afternoon end to the second practice team members would have to leave the circuit in the dark.

"We are doing the best we can to make sure the crew are safe," deputy team principal Bob Fernley said.

Later on Friday Fernley said the team would be back on the track Saturday for qualifying and will race on Sunday.

"The team is absolutely fully committed to racing here," he said. "We will be there for qualifying and the race."

Meanwhile Nico Rosberg, fresh from winning his first Grand Prix at Shanghai last week for Mercedes, was fastest in Friday's practice.

His lap of one minute, 32.816 seconds was almost half a second faster than Red Bull's Mark Webber who posted a lap time of 1:33.262.